Oregon sent 700,000 fewer unemployment checks in the beginning of 2013 compared to a year ago.

The state signed off on just more than 1 million benefits in the first quarter of the year, down 40.6 percent from first quarter 2012, according to the Oregon Employment Department. Total payments, funded by both federal and state programs, fell by one-third to nearly $310.1 million in Oregon.

The state's jobless rate has dropped one-half percentage point, to 8.4 percent, from February 2012 to February 2013. An estimated 14,000 fewer were unemployed. But 178,800 remain out of work, and tens of thousands more can only find part-time jobs.

BY JOE CORTRIGHT

BY JASON KAPLAN

Photographer Jason Kaplan takes a look at Murray's Pharmacy in Heppner. The family owned business is run by John and Ann Murray, who were featured in our July/August cover story: 10 Innovators in Rural Health Care.

BY LINDA BAKER

Charlie Hales has long viewed sound urban planning as the route to salvation: social, economic and environmental. This week, the mayor's city design philosophy got the nod of approval from a bona fide spiritual authority, Pope Francis.

BY STUART WATSON

BY JON SHADEL

The technology industry is always in flux. And this rapid rate of change poses challenges to companies ranging from nimble startups aiming to make their mark to established organizations fighting to remain relevant. This is particularly true in the competitive digital display market, where an Oregon company has been at the forefront of nearly every major breakthrough in the last three decades.

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Robert S. Wiggins has joined Lane Powell as a Shareholder in the Corporate/M&A Practice Group. Wiggins is a well-known lawyer, entrepreneur, and investor with more than 30 years of experience leading and advising established and emerging companies in the Pacific Northwest. Wiggins will focus his practice on offering outside general counsel services, including general corporate and board representation, business transactions and capital events.